OK, so I've used Malibu lights in the Eves of the garages to mark the corners and it looks great.
Like someone is home (always) and marks up the place a little.
Always on at night thanks to their Daylight Sensor (included.)
I'll have to take some pictures tonight.

I really like that they are indirect lights.
4 watts each but, I can see going to 1' LED's.
The Malibu set already turns it to 12v DC from 120v AC so you should be good there for LED's.
(I would look at eBay or Amazon for the LED's.

My Front Door lighted up.

Oh, I have the Flag lighted up too (we all should.)

I can see 4 lights.
1 for each garage column and 1 for the front door.
Oh, 5. One for an American Flag!!!

If you really want to add illumination to your home, ditch the idea of solar lights. They are nothing but a gimmick and do nothing but "mark" the edges of a walkway. They do not provide any true illumination. With the low operating cost of LED lighting, it doesn't make sense to fool around with solar. Most medium sized homes on my website only cost about $7-8 dollars a year to operate with LED.

For your design, you have a lot of concrete to deal with around your garage and entryway. You could approach this 3 ways.

1) If you are set on Uplighting (which does look the best) you will need to core out your concrete for lighting fixtures in front of the garage.) If you going this route- I would recommend having a lighting pro or at least a concrete cutting company help with this.

2) Replace the current wall sconces you have with up-down lights and up light the other areas.

3) Use recessed can lighting over the hard surface areas and up lighting everywhere else.

I would be mounting small accent lights in the 2nd story gutter to softly illuminate those upper gables also. This will give the home a much "taller" street presence.

If you would like the help of a professional lighting company, I can probably refer a good one to your from your area if you are out of my neck of the woods.

@Lite4: that would be awesome if you could do that :)

where are you located?

If you want to do it yourself, let me know, I can help.
(We could actually talk on the phone!!!)

Do you want to light up your backyard too?

1. Malibu Lights or LED's run on 12v DC (not the 120v AC you get from a house plug.)

2. A Daylight Switch will turn the lights on when it gets Dark and off when it gets light. If (and you should) you have one the lights will come on every night regardless of if you are home or not.

3. Inverters- you will need one. It turns 120v AC to 12v DC.
Again, many of the Malibu inverters INCLUDE a Daylight Switch (Photo Eye.). How many Watts you need depends on how many lights you are going to run. I always oversize a little because you never know what you want to add.

4. WATTAGE - how big of a system do you need?
The Malibu lights I use are 4Watts each (I know, small but, good enough.)
So, 4*(how many lights will you have?)(oversize here)(let's say 8???) 8=32 total watts. Home Depots smallest Inverter is 120-Watts so, that's good.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Malibu-Low-Voltage-120-Watt-Digital-Transformer-8100-9120-01/202059605/

You'll need Wire too.
http://m.homedepot.com/s/low voltage wire?searchtype=suggest
I run the Wire in my eves for the front yard. Anyone can see it if they look up!!!

LED's vs LIGHTS- I'll do this one later.
Lumens vs Power Draw
(Later)

I attached a picture of my backyard lights from last night.

Hi guys.. i'm located in Atlanta. I'm mostly planning on doing it myself, unless its more cost effective to get someone out here to do it for me. I will stick to LEDs (no matter if i go with Solar or low voltage ) . I don't want to have to dig into the concrete. Also i'll want to go with uplighting, not too big of a fan of down lighting

@Mark: Thanks for your help! your setup is really cool! :) i'll get in touch with you soon, we just moved into the house so there's so much to get done! phew.. it'll probably be a month or so before i get to the lights, but from everything people have told me and what i've read, i'll probably go with low voltage lighting.

Please, Please, Please don't use that Malibu junk. It's dangerous (I have photos of many burned up and smoked transformers that I have removed from the walls of my clients homes, who opted to go the box store route). The transformers are electronic instead of magnetic, the fixtures are cheap pot metal and their low quality LEDs will not yield the professional results for which you are seeking. If you are going to DIY, go to landscapelightingworld.com and purchase your equipment through VOLT. You will get high quality brass fixtures and the LEDs are very, very good. In fact I use a lot of their equipment for my projects. Look at my site page if you want to see the results of these better quality lights and my work. They are also just a few dollars more than the cheap junk at the box stores.

I recommend you educate yourself a bit about design and placement before you jump in, you will be glad you did. A great place to learn from the best in the industry is at: www.lawnsite.com
Go to the architectural and landscape lighting forum within lawn site. There are years worth of archives you can pinpoint search through to answer your many questions. You can also post your questions online there and many lighting professionals like myself will help to assist you in your project in more detail.

If you need a lighting layout and specification plan, I am happy to design one for you for a small fee, or I can refer you to Matt Broyles, with Firefly lighting in Atlanta. His number is 404-252-7119

Good luck on your project!

Mark, thanks for your input. Just FYI- when sizing your transformer for the capacity of lighting, it is always a good idea to leave room for additions, however this is not the main reason that a person should oversize their units. There is a principle in electrical work called the 80/20 rule that should be followed when sizing your "transformer". When you tally up the listed wattage of all your lights, you should never exceed 80% of the capacity of the transformer. The first reason is that this is code, and secondly, putting the full capacity on a transformer can cause it to overheat and have catastrophic results. Electricity running through landscape cable encounters resistance (which is why you have high and rapid voltage drop in low voltage systems). This resistance can be measured in consumable watts that are added to the overall usage of your lighting. So, if you use a full 120 watts of lights on your 120 watt transformer, you could actually be using 140-150 watts unknowingly because the resistance that is calculated in the wiring. This is why the 80/20 rule and also why we recommend oversizing your transformer to compensate for this. Most "professional" transformers are de-rerated to protect someone from loading to the limit, but I can't say that for sure on the cheapo box store units. Do yourself a huge favor and buy your lighting from VOLT. You can purchase everything directly on-line at ridiculously low prices. I have used them for years. It is professional grade equipment.

cheers!

If you look on the Volt site they call Daylight Switch (Photo Eye) a PHOTO CELL.
Just want to let you know they should all be the same thing.

Budget:
Transformer-$70 to $180 depending on what you get and who from.
Wire-$70
Wire hangers - $10
Lights or LED's - $25 each
(I've tried to give you some room in the budget)
What else???

How would I attach a spot light on the roof above the single car garage ?

I'll shot a picture on where I put mine later (just under the eves.)
Will this work?

Sounds good Mark, also what type of spot light will i have to get ? i thought all of them came with stakes so i wasn't sure how that would work on a roof

I simply mounted mine under the Eve. No one ever looks up there unless they are on and then you can't see because there is light coming at you!!!

I just used the Malibu Flood Lights (they were only $5!!!)

Oh, I cut off about 2-3" of the steak and drilled holes for the screws. Again, this is for the Plastic Floods.

I've done my 4 Rental Houses too.
The way I look at it is it makes it Safer for the Ladies as well. It really makes them look good.

I wouldn't mind doing them with LED's and never have to change them.

led

Please don't install low quality products on your beautiful home. They will corrode, chip, peel, and will almost certainly malfunction before long. You will end up have to re-do everything, and Lite4 is correct that you could be dealing with a fire hazard.

Instead, use products of the quality you find at voltlighting.com - nearly all our products have lifetime warranties.

Lite4's advice on fixture placement is right on. He's one of the best lighting designers in the country. Of course, it's not so easy to install lights in concrete, watch his video for instructions. You may want to hire a pro for that part of the job - also for installing those fixtures attached to the house - that's high-ladder work - very risky.

Good luck.

Port LED light recesses into floors or walls, lighting your landscape for drama and function. http://www.edgelighting.com/products/port-led-part.php